Source Of Cruise Illness Found

PORT CANAVERAL — Federal health officials have pinpointed the type of bacteria that made passengers aboard a cruise ship sick last week but have not determined how the illness was spread.

The bacteria, shigella flexneri, was found in the seven patients who were hospitalized, said Mike Gillenwater, an environmental health specialist in Miami for the Centers for Disease Control.

Officials are still awaiting test results of food and water samples from Premiere Cruise Lines' Starship Atlantic before determining how the bacteria spread, Gillenwater said. It could have been food contamination or casual contact among passengers, he said. A determination may be made before the end of the week.

The bacteria likely caused 41 other passengers to suffer from headaches, diarrhea and fever during the five-day cruise that ended last Friday.

The last of the seven people hospitalized because of the illness were released from Cape Canaveral Hospital in Cocoa Beach on Monday morning, said Dr. Fereydoon Khoshnood, a physician who treated several of the patients.